Hi, guys! Here I am, finally, to tell you a bit more about stage 2 of making my upcoming collection, The Masks Of Me :)
To be honest, though, after stage 1, the other stages aren’t necessarily happening in order. Let me reveal a bit more about this project and tell you why.
For the project, I need 35 paper mache masks made from a mold of my face. Making the mold was stage 1. What are the other stages?
Stage 2 — making the 35 paper mache masks. Stage 3 — decorating the masks (details on that some time soon, I promise). Stage 4 — photographing me wearing the masks, as the final product I’m going to mint as NFTs will be photographs.
The thing is, I have a deadline for this project. I want the first drop to be on July 11, which is my birthday. I’ll be turning — you guessed it — 35.
If I wait for all 35 masks to be made before decorating them and for all 35 masks to be decorated before photographing them, there’s a risk I won’t have anything to drop when the deadline comes. Therefore, I have to mix and match: make a couple of paper mache masks, while they are drying, decorate one or two, photograph them when I have the chance… There’s also a bunch of extra things like writing these posts and a couple of surprises I’m not going to reveal yet.
Balancing all this together is a bit hard as I’m not used to such complex projects. More so because my OCD brain desperately wants to do everything in order. More so because I’m doing many things I haven’t done before and I have no idea how long they take and if my deadline is even somewhat realistic…
Aaaaaaaaaa!!!
Okay, screaming over, let me tell you a bit about stage 2 of making The Masks Of Me — after all, that’s the main purpose of this post.
The last time I made paper mache was literally in the kindergarten, when I was about 5. I still remembered the main idea: pieces of paper or newspaper dipped into glue mixed with water and then put on the shape you want to replicate.
Sounds simple? Not quite XD
Different sources on the Internet will provide you with very different proportions of glue to water (e.g. 1:1 or 1:2). Moreover, I got a local brand not featured in these sources. It took me a few tries to get the proportions right. For “my glue” it’s actually about 1:4.
Even with these proportions, the newspaper stuck to the mold after it dried, and when I took a mask off the mold I was risking ruining one or the other or even both.
Internet recommended covering the mold with oil or fat creme, which didn’t work for me. I kind of remember that in the kindergarten we covered the surface with soapy water before putting paper mache on it — this worked better but still wasn’t perfect. Masks still got damaged a bit on the inside which you won’t be able to see on the photo but which makes the masks less durable.
I eventually came up with 2 solutions I’m using for my two molds: one is covered in protective plastic, kind of like a Saran Wrap but a bit thicker; for the other, I put the first layer of newspaper just dipped in water, no glue.
The masks coming off 2 molds look slightly different but that’s okay — many of them will be covered with stuff on top and this won’t even be visible. What will they be covered with? I will probably fully reveal that when the collection drops — but I’ll also share sneak-peeks :)
As for the main concept of the collection, I’ll talk about it in more detail in the future but for now you can check out the project teaser on Twitter as I touch upon the concept there a bit :)
Well, this completes the description of STAGE TWO of making The Masks Of Me — the stage itself will take some more time as I only have 16 masks made at the moment.
Follow me here or on Twitter to watch me making this collection and to be among the first ones there when it drops!
Thank you for reading!
